Advances in single-particle detection for DNA sensing

Rapid, accurate and sensitive detection of particular DNA sequence is critical in fundamental biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. However, conventional approaches for DNA assay often suffer from cumbersome procedures, long analysis time and insufficient sensitivity. Recently, single-particle detection technology has emerged as a powerful tool in the biosensing area due to its significant advantages of ultrahigh sensitivity, low sample-consumption and rapid analysis time. Especially, the introduction of novel nanomaterials has greatly promoted the development of single-particle detection and its applications for DNA sensing. In this review, we summarize the recent advance in single-particle detection strategies for DNA sensing, and focus mainly on metallic nanoparticle- and semiconductor quantum dot-based single-particle detection. We highlight the emerging trends in this field as well.